The relationship between old and new; the phoenix rising

Around 1913 the city Dublin needed a lot of repair. The phoenix is Dublin, the city rising from the ashes.   The panorama was designed to show the contrast between the old and the new city. The panorama intends to show what was, what could have been and what is. The background which represented the old was a black and white panoramic image of a street in Dublin. This image contained no people and the streets appear empty. Moving people and cars are projected on a part of this background image.

The intended contrast between old and new was in my opinion hindered by the fact that the background image was a black and white image of the modern city. The image contained storefronts with modern adverts, a very modern BMW on a parking spot, surveillance cameras, modern traffic signs, scooters and other modern objects. In this sense the link between past and present is missing.

When the panorama is entered it felt like one entered another world, one was submerged in a projected reality. The sound of the street outside mixed with the sound of the projections and it became unclear what was real and what was projected. This strengthens the experience of being submerged into another world. When the projector rotates the shadow of the viewer is projected on the screen, which made the viewer part of the projected reality.

On the outside of the panorama information was shown about Dublin before 1913. The images of the children walking around on their bare feet in the ruins of the city were very strong images. These images really showed the contrast between what was and what is. If the background image in the panorama was an image similar, it would have been a stronger experience since the contrast between old and new is much greater.  

Arwin Hidding

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